Game Pieces:

The game board:

A Company Mat:

Each player starts with:

• 1 company mat (his play area)
• 4 cylinders -- place 3 as markers in the first holes on the left side of the company mat (rationalization 5/1, raw materials 5/1 and waste reduction 5/1). Place the fourth in the 0 hole at the bottom of the mat in the waste disposal section
• 1 factory -- place in the upper left space on the game board as the player's factory marker (Row 5, Column 14)
• 15 Million in starting capital
• 5 raw materials placed in the raw material storage section

Goal:

The players are owners/managers of their companies. In this role, they organize their co-workers, raw materials, waste and its disposal, and the growth of their companies. Of course, they do all this with their eyes on profits! The player who best manages his company will win the game!

Playing the Game

The game is played over several rounds. The game ends when one or more factories reach any of the right-most spaces on the game board.

Loans

A player may take a loan at any time, even when it is not his/her turn. For each loan a player takes, he/she takes 10 million in bank notes from the bank and places a "-10" loan token in his/her play area. A player may have as many loans as he/she wants. if all loan tokens have been taken, players keep track of additional loans with paper and pencil. The "2x -10" loan tokens can be exchanged for 2 "-10" loan tokens at any time.

Game Board

The board shows the growth and the number of co-workers for all companies. The growth track runs from the left to the right and the co-worker track runs from the top to the bottom. During the game players generally move their factories to the right and down. However, sometimes a player must move his factory backwards to the left or towards the top of the board.

The Growth Track

The numbers on the track (14-20) have two meanings:

1. The money that a player earns during the game for completing an order
2. The points that a player gets at the end of the game

The Co-worker Track

The numbers on the track (5-1) have two meanings:

1. The number of co-workers in a company (times 100; 5 = 500)
2. The money that the player must pay the bank at the end of each round as basic costs for his company.

The Company Mat

The company mat has three sections:

1) The Building

Which is further subdivided into three parts:

a) rationalization

The number above the marker shows the minimum number of co-workers the company needs to complete one order.

b) raw materials

The number above the marker shows how many raw materials a company needs to complete one order. In addition, the number shows how many raw materials a company may sell.

c) waste reduction

The number above the marker shows how much waste a company produces when it completes one order

For all three sections, the number below the marker shows the number of points the player gets at the end of the game.

The markers for all three sections begin at 5 (the left most) position.

2) Waste Disposal

Whenever a company completes an order it produces waste. How much waste is produced is shown in the section for waste reduction. To mark this waste production, the player moves his/her waste marker counting upward through the number of holes in his/her waste disposal section equal to the amount of waste produced by the completed order. The waste may later be reduced. The waste disposal section has three areas: green (0-8), yellow (9-12) and red (13-16). The area where the marker stands is only important when the accident card is drawn. Note: If the player has no more room in the waste disposal section, the player may not complete an order.

3) Raw Material Storage

Players keep their raw materials in this section. When a player buys raw materials, they are taken from the common supply and placed in the storage area. When an order is completed, the necessary raw material is taken from the storage area and placed in the common supply.

Playing a Round

A round has 5 stages:

1) lay out card combinations:

The dealer lays out a row of face up cards -- one more card than the number of players. Then a second row is layed overlapping the first, and finally a third row overlapping the second. No card may be placed in a column that matches a previous card in that column. If this happens the card is discarded immediately and another is drawn. If the deck is exhausted, the discards are shuffled and dealing continues.

If the Accident card is drawn it is layed aside and the game is immediately interrupted. All players check the color their waste markers are in.

• Green: no effect
• Yellow: pay 5 million to bank, move factory one to the left
• Red: Pay 10 million, move factory two to the left.

If the player can't pay the fine, the player takes a loan from the bank. A factory can not move beyond the far left. Note: A player with the bribery action card can choose to protect himself from the effects of an accident as explained below. After the accident is resolved, the dealer continues laying out the cards until all three rows are complete.

2) choose card combinations:

Beginning with the starting player and moving clockwise around the table, each player chooses one of the 3-card combinations and places it face up in his play area. The last player will have only two combinations to choose from. The unchosen combination is discarded. Players turn over action cards saved from the previous round.

3) play the cards:

The starting player chooses one of his cards, executes its action and discards it face up on the discard stack. Then the player to the left does the same and so on until each player has only one or no cards left. A player with exactly one card left may choose to pass by turning the card face down, thus saving the card for the next round. A player may NOT otherwise pass a turn. A player may choose to discard an action card as a turn rather than executing the action on the card. Exception: The raw materials card must be executed or saved, it may not be discarded.

Description of Cards and their effects

Raw Materials

The Player takes as many raw materials from the common supply as indicated by the marker in his or her raw materials section and sells them together. Beginning with the left neighbor, each player in turn, clockwise, ONCE around the table, may bid ONCE or pass to buy the raw materials. The seller has the last bid. The highest bidder takes the raw materials and places them in that players raw material storage. If the seller buys them, the seller pays the bid amount to the bank. If another player buys them, that player pays the seller.

Note: A player may not bid more than the player has in cash. The player MAY take a loan to increase that players cash in hand, but the loan must be taken before placing the bid.

Order

When a player executes the order card the goods are first produced and then immediately sold. The player first checks to see if the player has sufficient co-workers and raw materials to complete an order. If so, then the player puts the exact amount of raw materials required into the common supply from that player's storage area. The player then receives money from the bank in the amount shown on the growth track by the player's factory on the game board. Finally, the waste marker is moved forward the number of holes as shown by the factory position on the game board.

Example: The red player executes an order immediately at the start of the game.

1. Red has 5 co-workers as shown by the red factory on the board and needs 5 as shown by the marker on the red company mat in the rationalization section.
2. Red has 5 raw materials to start with and needs 5 raw materials as shown by the marker in the raw materials section of the red company mat. Red takes the 5 raw materials from the storage area and puts them in the common area.
3. Red collects 14 million from the bank.
4. Red produces 5 waste as shown by the marker in the waste reduction section of the red company mat, so the red's waste marker is moved 5 holes to the right.
5. The order card is placed on the discard pile.

Growth

The player's factory is moved one space to the right on the board

Hiring/Firing

The player's marker is moved one space up or down on the board. The player chooses which direction to move the marker.

Innovation

The player moves one marker (rationalization, raw materials or waste reduction) 1 hole to the right. The player pays the bank 5 million

Waste Disposal

The player moves the waste marker 3 holes to the left (but not past 0)

Waste Removal

The player moves the waste marker 1 hole to the left (but not past 0). All other players move their waste markers one hole to the right. This card may be played when the player's marker is on the 0. It may also be played when another player's marker is on that player's 16, although no player's marker can be moved past 16.

Bribery

This card may not be actively played. The card is used when an accident card is drawn and the player has his/her waste marker in the yellow or red area of the waste disposal section. By discarding the card and paying 1 million to the bank, a player can avoid moving his/her factory as a result of the accident card. A player with this card does not have to use it as the result of an accident. This card only prevents the backward movement of the factory, the 5 or 10 million dollar penalty must still be paid.

Advisor

The Advisor has two abilities: loan payment and doubling or improving an action. The card may not be played alone, but must be played with a loan token or another action card. A player who wants to repay a loan discards an advisor card, pays 10 million to the bank and returns the loan token to the bank. This is the ONLY way in which a loan can be repaid. For each advisor card, ONE 10 million dollar loan may be repaid. To double or improve an action, the player plays the advisor card together with another action card. The effects of the advisor are:

• raw materials: sells twice as many as allowed by the player's marker
• hiring/firing: move two spaces up or down
• growth: move two spaces to the right
• innovation: move 1 marker 2 to the right or 2 markers 1 to the right. The player must pay for both innovations (10 million)
• waste disposal: move up to 6 holes towards 0
• waste removal: move 2 holes to the left, opponents move 2 holes to the right.
• order: get an extra 5 million from the bank (NOT double!)
• bribery: Can not play with the advisor card

4) pay the basic costs

All players pay their basic costs to the bank. The amount due is shown by the location of their marker on the game board. If a player does not have enough money to pay basic costs, the player must immediately take a loan.

5) change the starting player

The EURO passes to the left and that player is the starting player for the next round. If the accident card was drawn in the current round, then the entire card supply is reshuffled and dealt from. If the accident card was not drawn, then the new round is dealt from the remaining cards and the discard pile is left intact.

Game End

The game ends when a factory of one or more players reaches any right-most space on the game board. The players finish the current round and the game ends. At the end of the game there is always an accident!

Note: The game still ends even if the results of the accident are such that no factories are in the right-most spaces.

Players tally their scores as follows:

• Growth track place of the factory on the game board
• +state of innovation in the 3 areas
• +50% of cash on hand (rounded down)
• -sum of all loans held

The player with the most points win. If there is a tie, the player with most money among those tied wins.

General Tips:

The most important thing is flexibility. You should begin the game with some strategy, for example hold the cost of basic costs low. When you do not get the cards to support your strategy, you must look for a different strategy. There are many paths to victory! Feel free to take a loan or two. Do not fear having your marker in the yellow area. Don't take too many loans and avoid the red area however. Why? You do not want to be forced to use an advisor to repay loans or with waste removal to move your waste disposal marker backwards. Try to keep your options open! The order of card play is not always critical, but be on the lookout for those times when it is. Cash is important during the game to give you options, but has only half value at the end. Try to spend your money during the game for innovations.

Thanks to Eric for his proofreading and suggestions on a few clarifications. And, a tip from Eric: When you have the Euro (it's your turn) it's good to save some money because next turn you will not have the best sets of cards to choose from!